Soldier: 50963 Lucky Ace
by t0tally al0n3
Summary: Jimmy has chosen to make one tough decision: to go and fight in Iraq. He didn't know what would happen. Little did he know that he would never come back. (Finished)
1. Not Giving Up

He didn't want to go…but he knew that deep in his heart that he really wanted to.

After graduating from college, Jimmy decided that he wanted to become a soldier and go to fight in Iraq; even though that it meant never coming back or ever seeing his beloved wife, Cindy, anymore.

Jimmy was constantly told how much he would be missed, how life would be with out him, and how unstable a romantic love life would be. He knew the chances, the risks, but he still wanted to go. And here he stood… looking into the eyes of his loved ones and the only thing separating them from him… a wired fence.

"I still have time to change my mind…" Jimmy thought. "Time to change my mind and run away! No..no, what have I been training for all these months? This is it. I am not afraid of what I will come across…even if it means death. There is nothing more better than what I want… a free nation for all people."

As he boarded the plane, he took one last look at Cindy. She was crying. She had a look on her face that seemed to say, "I already miss you!".

Cindy silently whispered, "I love you."

The look on Jimmy's face showed Cindy how much he cared for her, how much he loved her. He was about to cry as he whispered those three words, but Jimmy was determined to make a grand exit. He kept a straight face and made a sharp salute to his friends and family; with that he walked up the boarding staircase…his head facing forward. He didn't know what would come before him, nor did he know what great sorrow this would cause to his one and only.

Jimmy sat down next to an empty seat. He placed his hands over his face and thought about what had happened over the past few weeks.

"I don't want you to go!!!" Judy exclaimed. "Hugh, do something!"

"Jimmy, war….war..it's a very dangerous thing!!!!…A very dangerous thing…like.." Hugh stuttered.

"Like…rockets?" Jimmy filled in with a sigh.

"Precisely!" said Hugh while giving a thumbs up sign.

"Honey!!!!!" Judy screamed.

"Just trying to be positive….." Hugh muttered.

"Thanks for trying…" Cindy sighed as she got up from a chair to sit next to Jimmy.

"Sweetie…" Cindy coaxed as she gently rubbed Jimmy's shoulders. "We both know that we don't want you to go… In fact, all of our friends..your family are worried about your safety. You may never come back. What's going to happen to you…to us?"

"Cindy….you care to much about _us_! What about other people, huh? What about the freedoms of _others_?" Jimmy questioned. "I know that I'm risking my life, but think about other soldiers….how their families must feel…they feel the same way as you!!!"

"Jimmy, please listen to Cindy…." said Judy as she handed Cindy a tissue.

"Jimbo……" Hugh began.

"I don't want to hear it!" Jimmy shouted. "I've made up my mind..I'm going to Iraq. No one is going to stop me and I'll make sure that_ no one_ will hold me back!!!"

He grabbed his jacket and car keys and headed out the front door. He wasn't sure if he did the right thing, but all he could think about at that moment was about war. He never liked it. War. It never solved anything.

"But I'm sick and tired of seeing it on the news!" he muttered to himself. "Sick and tired of seeing people die and if going to war will help stop all of this..then so be it!"

Jimmy was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that they had already taken off and that the seat right next to him was occupied.

"Hey, I've been trying to talk to you for the past thirty minutes, but I guess you've zoned out!" the voice said.

"Huh? Oh, I'm really sorry." Jimmy laughed nervously.

"By the way, the name's Little John."

"Is that really your real name?" Jimmy asked.

"What?! No it's just a nickname." John assured him. "They just call be that because…well, I'm kind of a puny guy. Soooooo……what's your's?"

"Well, my friends call me Lucky Ace, but my real name is Jimmy Neutron."

"Whoa!!! Dude, you were that kid that was always on the newspaper and on television. You were like my type of hero! I've always dreamed of meeting you in person..but not like this. I dreamed of a more heroic setting….. I hope you don't mind me bringing it up, but I can't believe that you almost ruined Christmas!!! That was a total close one!"

Jimmy blushed. "Yeah, let's just put that behind our backs, shall we?"

"Sorry, we will."

"By the way…how'd you get your nickname?" John asked.

"Me?" Jimmy questioned. "Well, I got the nickname, "Lucky Ace", because of all those life endangering adventures I used to go on. In most of those adventures…I barely came out alive."

The two of them remained silent for a few moments until John saw Jimmy move uneasily in his chair.

"Uh, something wrong? You seem a bit troubled there?" John asked.

"Oh, I guess..that I'm just a bit nervous."

"Nervous over what, eh?"

"Nervous that I'll never come back alive..nervous that I'll never see my family and friends again." Jimmy answered while looking at his boots.

John took out a picture from his pocket.

"Jimmy, I want to show you something."

Jimmy moved his head to the side to clearly she the picture.

"Wow! She's a looker!" Jimmy hooted.

"Yup, name'sBecky, and she's mine…" John said as he looked to the side.

"She's probably going to miss you… miss you a whole lot."

"Well.." John replied. "I don't thing that she will."

"What do you mean by that?" Jimmy asked.

"You see she's dead and gone… but that doesn't matter because she is in my heart and her strength and courage lives on in me. And I just want to protect the country that she lived in…This is probably what she wanted me to do."

"Gosh, that's suresomebeautiful sentences." Jimmy said in awe.

"Heh he heh…." John laughed. "You can quote me on that!!!!"

"Will do."

Jimmy then showed John a picture of Cindy that he brought along.

"Wheet whoo! Now there's a lucky catch!!!" John hooted.

"Yup, we go waaaaaaaaaaay back. I'm just really going to miss her a whole lot."

John watched as Jimmy put back the picture into his pocket.

"Now back to curing your nervousness…" John began. "You shouldn't be afraid to go to Iraq….perish all your thoughts of fear and all that nonsense. You're here because of willingness and self-sacrifice. You came here on your own decision didn't you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then what's the problem? You came here knowing that you'll probably never come back. There's a fifty- fifty chance of coming back or not. That's a chance that every single one of us on this plane will have to take."

"You're right!!" Jimmy agreed. "I'm not scared anymore and I'm ready to put my life on the line."

"That's good!" John happily sighed. "Now lets have some lunch… I'm starving. And by the way, I hear that the food here is pretty tasty."

Jimmy took a spoonful of the macaroni and cheese.

"Oh, true 'dat!" Jimmy exclaimed with his eyes wide open.

The two of them laughed at that. They busily chatted away; they talked about politics, and made some new friends. Suddenly, Jimmy saw a very familiar face.

"Nick?! Is..is that really _you_?!" Jimmy screamed.

"Cool your jets, Neutron." Nick replied calmly. "By the looks of it… I'll say that you haven't changed one dang bit."

Jimmy sat there quietly, evaluated himself for a few moments and answered, "Nope. I guess I haven't!"

"Then you're the same big genius butthead that often gets into loads of trouble?" Nick asked teasingly.

"Yup!…Hey wait a minute! I'm no butthead." Jimmy replied.

"Ha ha!!! Gotcha, Neutron!" Nick laughed as he grabbed Jimmy in a headlock.

"Whoa!! You're messing with the 'do!"

"There's nothing loads of gel can't fix."

"Knowing you….you've go plenty of it." Jimmy said with an evil grin.

"Oh, is that a challenge?"

"You wanna go for it?"

"Arm wrestling."

"Bring it, Dean!"

John was instantly made the referee.

"Best two out of three?" Nick asked.

"Good enough!" Jimmy said approvingly.

All three of them soon became indulged in their game until the sky grew dark and it was time for the soldiers to get some shut eye.

"Okay, boys, quit messing around! Lets get some sleep!" the commander yelled.

"Yes, sir!" all the soldiers replied sharply in unison.

Some of the soldiers got up and volunteered to pass around some blankets and pillows, which were stored in the overhead compartment.

When Jimmy received his pillow and blanket, he gratefully accepted it with a thank you. He took the pillow in both hands and fluffed it up a bit. John was watching him throughout the whole process.

"Gee, Jimmy, you're such a nice guy." John said.

"Nice? I'm not quite sure what you mean about that."

"I'm mean you're so polite. You'll make a great soldier." John replied as he yawned. "Well, good night."

"Night." Jimmy returned.

Jimmy pulled the blankets over his body and closed his eyes to get some sleep. Thing is…he couldn't. He kept worrying about Cindy, his family, and his friends.

"Before I was scared." he thought to himself. "But for some reason, right now I'm not scared at all. I'll get through this…everything will be okay. I'm going to finish what I started... finish it Neutron style. I'm not going to hold anything back; I'm going to give this my all!"

He sat up straight and took out his lucky ace of spades playing card and a small pen out of his pocket. He wrote a few words on his lucky spades card and put both items back into his pocket. Jimmy patted his pocket just to make sure that all of its contents were back in there. He looked at Little John who was fast asleep.

"Thanks…for everything." Jimmy whispered as he covered himself with the blanket and softly drifted to sleep.


	2. Don't Hold Anything Back

Cindy woke up the next morning expecting to see those comforting blue eyes. Sadly, when she opened hers, those hypnotizing blue eyes weren't there to say, "Good Morning, my love." She sat up and carefully looked at a framed wedding picture of the two of them. They were two souls…two sweet innocent souls, but destiny broke them apart. It was destiny.

"It really is a cold cruel world out there…" Cindy thought. "The only thing that's keeping me from Jimmy is this damn war. I don't know how I'll ever live without him, but I've got to try…for his sake."

She went to the bathroom and looked at the sorry sad reflection staring right back at her. Suddenly, she saw something in the mirror…it was like a vision from a long time ago. Every morning, Jimmy would caress her soft hair and whisper sweet words into her cute little ears.

"I love you…" he would whisper. "I'll love you until the day I die….till time stops…the world ends…we'll never be apart…I promise."

But nothing lasts forever and promises are surely meant to be broken.

"All of his promises were lies….all lies!" Cindy sobbed. "All lies…wait, I shouldn't be saying all this… After all, he is my husband, and I have to always be by his side…no matter what!"

She washed her face and curiously thought about what Jimmy was going through right about now.

"Okay….line up, ladies!" the sergeant commanded.

"Why do they call us ladies?" John asked.

"I've got no idea…" Jimmy whispered.

"Let's go you pansies!" shouted Nick.

"Argh, don't call us pansies! You know we're more of a man than you?" Jimmy yelled.

"Can it, Private Neutron." Sergeant Belmont spat.

"Yes, sir!"

"Okay, ladies, we're going to be handing out dog tags… In case any of you die, we'll be able to identify you." sergeant announced.

"Oh, yeah, that's encouraging…." Jimmy whispered to John.

John smirked a bit, " You said it alright."

Soon the two of them were handed their tags. Jimmy snagged a quick look at John's tag.

"Huh? Wait a second…John's younger than me? Well, those were some pretty wise words that I heard yesterday coming from a kid his age…" Jimmy thought.

Just then the sergeant was coming towards the three men.

"Dean, I hear that you are good on the field." the sergeant noted.

"That's right, sir."

"Dean, get out there!"

"Right away, sir!"

And with that Nick ran off in a flash. Next the sergeant turned towards Jimmy and John.

"Well, ladies, I hear that you two are good in the first aid and rescue section of our sector."

"That's right sir!" the two of them replied in unison.

"Hm….you two don't look that beefed up like Dean…. The two of you will be working the tanks for today; as for the rest of the days…we'll see what comes up."

"Yes, sir!" the two of them said as they made a mad dash towards the tank room.

"This really isn't what I had expected." John said.

"What do you mean by that?" Jimmy asked.

"I mean, I expected to be already holding a gun in my hand ready to shoot somebody dead."

"Little John, this ain't a video game…it's real… real guns, real people, real death."

"But aren't we both ready to take this on and finish of this darn war?" asked John with a puzzled look on his face.

"You bet we'll finish this war….Neutron style."

"I really can't believe that he's gone, Libbs."

"Oh honestly, Cindy, chill out girl! You know Jimmy hates it when you worry your head off." Libby tried to calm Cindy down as she was happily sipping her Jamba Juice.

The two of them decided to go out for the day just to calm Cindy's nerves…so far nothing has been working.

The two of them were silent for a moment, when Cindy smiled at Libby.

"You know what?" Cindy asked.

"Hm?"

"I really want to thank you for all that you've done for me…you've always been my best friend and you always will be. Even throughout those hard times…you've still kept me going."

"Cindy…what are friends for? Huh? You've always picked me up when I'm down."

Cindy blushed. She clearly remembered those moments. Little flashbacks of her past came back to her; Cindy has lived an awesome life so far. She never could forget about those little adventures that she and her friends all had.

"Cindy, you shouldn't worry…" Libby started. "Things will just keep getting better and better for all of us. Pretty soon Jimmy will be home soon and we'll throw a huge party for the two of you…and maybe we might give you guys some alone time together…I mean, that is, if we don't stop bugging you two of course…"

"Libby!"

"Aw, sorry girl, I couldn't help but put that in the moment."

"Why now?"

Libby laughed.

Jimmy, Nick, and John were all lying in the infirmary. Apparently the tank that Jimmy and John drove was bombed during their rescue mission and Nick had a severe abrasion on his arm.

"Well, isn't this quaint." Jimmy laughed. "All three of us sitting in bed."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….." John sighed.

Jimmy was laughing quite heartily.

"Put a sock in it Neutron! Darn it, you haven't changed." Nick crankily yelled.

"Aw, poor baby!" Jimmy said with baby talk. "Does he need me to change da diapeeeee?"

"Shut up!"

"Hey, John?" Jimmy asked. "How you doin?"

"Well, I'm pretty fine…I just feel really hot right now…."

"Hey, me too." Jimmy agreed. "Oh, and I've got this nasty cut on my cheek. It's gonna leave a mark…hey, it's a souvenir!"

"Wow, Lucky Ace, you're so optimistic even when life gets tough." John said with admiration.

"Gee, thanks, but you know what…you're the one with guts…"

"Uh, how's that….?"

"Well, John, you were the last one to get out of the tanker."

"True, but dat don't make me no hero…"

"You may think that…but I sure don't."

"Jimmy, thanks."

"No problem….say we learned a bunch of new stuff today didn't we?"

"Yeah….like don't eat beans before going into a tanker!"

"Dude, that was nasty!"

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, but we got out all right." Jimmy sighed happily.

"We sure did."

"And we're still alive."

"We totally gave this our all."

"Yup, we're not giving up yet!"

"Write a novel, Neutron, just be quiet!" Nick shouted.

"Oooohhhh, touchy, touchy." Jimmy teased.

"……………………." Nick gave Jimmy an agitated look.

Jimmy laughed, but deep down inside the two of them knew that they were pretty great friends. Before Jimmy went to bed, he took out his lucky ace of spades card and a pen. On it, he wrote a few more words down. He placed them back into his pocket and drifted off into some well-deserved rest.


	3. Those Last Words

Cindy sat there all alone and carefully contemplated over her little day out with Libby.

"Gosh…" she thought. " I miss him so much."

She began to blush as she recalled all of those precious moments with that little boy genius. The moments that they shared… together. Cindy loved Jimmy with all her heart and would gladly put her life down on the line for her. But, as fate often times deals cruelly with young lovers, there was nothing in the whole world she could do to help him. Only through thoughts and prayers could they be together. Even though not physically, they were there together… spiritually.

"They say as two hearts are farther apart… they become, yet, closer together… Is this really true.?" Cindy asked herself out loud. "If this is true… where are the arms that once held me and helped me realize that I am safe and secure. Jimmy's the one I love… There is no way that I'll ever let him go. But it is as he wills."

Cindy got up to make herself a cup of coffee.

"Decaf… Jimmy liked that best." she sighed as she boiled the water.

Just then the doorbell rang and Cindy ran to answer it. She peered through the peephole and realized that it was a soldier from the army.

"Greetings.. Mrs. Neutron." John replied as Cindy opened the door.

"Please," Cindy laughed nervously. "Just call me Cindy."

"Of course, Mrs. –I mean Cindy."

"Oh, do come in. I'm just about to make some coffee. Care for some?"

"Uh…. No thank you ma'am. I'm in an awful hurry. I came to.. um.. give you.. this." John said with a solemn look on his face.

Cindy gingerly took the helmet and dog tag. She looked at the dog tag and quickly identified that it was Jimmy's.

"Uh…." Cindy stuttered.

"John…." John prompted.

"Yes… I'm sorry… John… I don't think that I quite understand what's going on here." She laughed nervously.

John bowed his head and replied, "My condolence, Cindy… but.. you're husband, Jimmy…."

"Is.. dead?" Cindy filled in.

"Yes…" John bowed his head so that Cindy wouldn't have to see the tears that were falling down his cheeks. Never before had John cried in his life. He was a tough boy… although from a broken family.. Jimmy was in truth the only best friend that he ever had.. besides his wife of course.

John recalled how a few days ago… how his friend was killed. They were in the middle of combat. Jimmy quite bloodthirsty at the time was in quite the adventurous mood. The two of them were shooting at the enemy and slapping each other on the back when suddenly John was shot in the ankle.

"Ughhh…." John moaned.

"John.. Dudeman!" Jimmy said. "You're ankle."

Just then a bullet came right toward John. He braced his body getting ready for the impact and the trip from life to death… but… he didn't feel the bullet surging through his very flesh. Instead, he saw the blood oozing from out of his own friend. It was there that right before his eyes… that John witnessed death. Jimmy Neutron, his hero had taken the bullet. John loomed over Jimmy… he tried hard not to cry… and he didn't… he just still couldn't let anyone know the feelings that were buried deep within him… How he was never loved.

"Jimmy… why?" John asked trembling.

Jimmy coughed out blood and replied, "Just knowing that I've given my life for someone… that when it all comes down…t-to the o-ones that I love. Nothing… n-nothing in the world… could ever replace… the ones that I l-love. The lives of others… so dear… so precious. Remember that John. Remember."

Just then Nick ran off and quickly analyzed the scene. Without any questioning, he immediately helped John carry Jimmy into the dugout. John looked at Jimmy. His eyes seemed to ask if Jimmy was to die and with a nod of approval from Nick, John knew what was to be expected.

"Nick.." John asked. "What'll we do, now?"

"…………We finish this… Neutron style." Nick said with a smug look on his face. "That's how Neutron would have wanted it."

Despite his wounded ankle, John fought a good fight together with Nick and here John stood in front of his hero's wife… alive… and clutching his crutch. But what John didn't know was that Jimmy still had some life in him. With his last few ounces of energy, Jimmy picked up his lucky ace card and pen out of his pocket. Even with the huffs and puffs, he was still able to focus writing the last two words on that tattered card. After writing those words, he placed the card carefully into his helmet. With these final actions, he looked heavenward, wished goodbye to his friends, family, and the greatest love… to his wife. It was then and there… that James Vortex Neutron… went back home.

These memories were too painful to John. He bid farewell and wished the best to Cindy Neutron. Although he had a crutch, he limped as fast as he could, trying to hide the tears that stung his cheeks.

Cindy watched the car drive off and closed the door. A million thoughts raced through Cindy's mind. Thoughts that one can't comprehend… thoughts beyond words. She looked at the mirror that hung by the door. Carefully placing the helmet on a nearby table, she placed the dog tag around her neck. Then reaching for the helmet… she grasped it tightly and held it to herself. Suddenly, a piece of paper fluttered downward out of the helmet. Cindy carefully reached for the paper and read the written words.

_No Reserve_

_No Retreat_

_No Regrets_


End file.
